Whole World in Her Hands
by The Seitz
Summary: Lady Shiva has been sent to the slab. Part 1 of 2 in a duo of pieces feturing Cassandra Cain


Disclaimer: I don't own any of the following characters, DC does. I have snuck into their super secret headquarters and borrowed them for a quick story. Luckily I returned them with no one being the wiser. . . . . . . .   
  
Author's notes: In "Secret Files and Origins: Batgirl" the second little mini-story is about the search for whoever bested Shiva and stuck her in a jail. My story assumes that she hasn't yet broken out.  
  
  
Whole World In Her Hands  
By The Seitz  
  
  
It seems the Paper Monkey has finally been caged.  
  
I had never thought it possible. I have fought, bested and killed the greatest the world has to offer, and now here I am, stuck in a prison cell awaiting trial for killing the follower who put together my "wall of fame."   
  
I am Shiva, the destroyer of worlds.   
  
Well, almost all worlds. Sitting here, in this dank, dark, little room I still can't believe it. She beat me. A little girl in a cape, wearing a Bat beat me. And she didn't kill me doing it. She beat me and then dumped me here to wallow in my shame.   
  
I never should have brought the little brat back from the dead.  
  
I had to, I know. The second I saw her, that night, the night of our duel, I knew she would let me kill her. When I look back on it, I knew she wouldn't allow herself to win. I knew that when we battled she would die.   
  
Maybe that's why I did it. Why I trained for a year, to throw that one punch. The one punch that would start her heart beating and bring her back. I figured maybe if the girl died, whatever weight she held on her shoulders would be lifted and maybe we could finally have a duel befitting warriors.   
  
It wasn't complicated really, the punch. The first strike stopped her heart. It was the timing that was tricky. I had to get her back to the shrine and changed into her little suit before her body truly died. People don't understand that. Just because a person's heart stops doesn't mean they have died. No, you die when your body finally releases your soul. That was the trick. To throw the second punch just as her body decided to give up. And how do you know when that moment is? Train for a year, a lifetime, then you should be able to tell.  
  
And I threw the punch. And it worked, and look what it got me. She won, sort of. She didn't kill me. So I guess that means she didn't really win. The deal was I use my killing moves she uses hers. We're both still alive and kicking so I guess that means we are still in our duel. I just need to find her. Then, I promise this time, I will not be bringing her back.   
  
I just have to find a way out of here first. This is a nice prison, as far a maximum security ones go. I'm stuck down here in solitary. The guards won't even come into the cell to give me food. They have a special slot in between the bars they open. I hear they keep David Cain around here somewhere. It's a small world really, from what I've heard he turned himself in at the urging of his daughter. So she put us both here, maybe if I'm good they can put me someplace where I can talk to him. Get some info, maybe plan a breakout. I'll get out of here eventually, they think that this little jail can hold me. Ha, I'm Lady Shiva, I can't be held I can't be. . . .  
  
A quiet rustling interrupts my thoughts. I lift my self from the bed and turn to look. "You."  
  
She regards me with a twist of her head, it is her only answer.  
  
"What?" I ask as I lift myself to my feet.  
  
Again, she says nothing, but pulls back her cape to show her hand. She is holding something. She steps forward and gently moves it between the bars to set on the floor of my cell. It is a present, a small box wrapped in dark blue paper with little cartoon reindeer.  
  
"Christmas." She says simply.  
  
"You bought me a present?" I ask as the initial shock wears off.  
  
"It's. . . a thank you gift. . .for training me. . .for giving me back. . .what I lost." Her voice is quiet, almost embarrassed at her situation.  
  
Not knowing what else to do I step forward and pick up the gift, holding it in my two hands.   
  
"I talked with. . . The warden and. . .I made him promise not to. . .take it from you."   
  
"This changes nothing between us." I tell her. "I meant what I said at the shrine."  
  
"I know."  
  
"And you don't care."  
  
"No. . .we can. . Cross that . . .bridge when it. . .comes." She smiles at her own wit. "Please. . .open it."  
  
Not knowing what to else to do I tear off the wrapping. A small object wrapped in tissue rest inside the box. A small gasp escapes me when I see what it is.   
  
It looks almost too delicate to hold. It is a small snow globe, the base is fashioned to look like a mound of snow and little white and clear crystals float around the little model of the earth inside the glass. She has given me a snow globe with the earth inside.  
  
To show that. . .some things. . .are to pretty . . .to destroy." She says in answer to my unspoken question.   
  
I look at the globe and then back up to the girl. I notice another wrapped box, slightly larger than mine sitting next to her feet and it hits me. She put us both here. "Merry Christmas Cassandra." I say, with a smile. Then, "Good luck." As I nod to the box at her feet.  
  
Under her mask I can see her smile. "Merry Christmas." She tells me then picks up her other box and vanishes back into the shadows.  
  
Sitting back down on the bed I turn the snow globe over in my hands before looking back to the spot where the girl just stood. This changes nothing. We will battle again when I get free. And I will show no mercy when it happens. I can not show mercy.  
  
"I am Shiva," I say out loud, "I am the destroyer of worlds." But then I look down at my gift and watch the flakes dance and float around the little world I now hold in my hands.   
  
I am Shiva, I am the destroyer of worlds. . .just not this one. 


End file.
